


Goodbyes

by SoldiersWar



Category: Pretties - Fandom, Specials - Fandom, Tally Youngblood - Fandom, Uglies Series - Scott Westerfeld
Genre: Other, Specials, Tally Youngblood - Freeform, cutters, pretties, uglies - Freeform, uglies series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:02:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27563494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoldiersWar/pseuds/SoldiersWar
Summary: Before running away into the wild with David, after Dr. Cable lats her go, Tally goes to her childhood home for the first time since being Special having to say one of the hardest goodbyes that she will ever have to make after Zane.
Relationships: David/Tally Youngblood/Zane, Dr. Cable & Tally Youngblood, Tally Youngblood/Zane
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Goodbyes

The moment that Tally knocked on the door, she regretted it. 

What was she even doing? Facing them like this; having to stare into their watery crumbly eyes. Eyes that were probably different and unfamiliar now that they had most likely been cured by Maddy’s pills.

The last time that she had seen them, both she and they had been bubbleheads. Sure, she had been “bubblier” than the average Pretty, but the way they would interact now would be significantly different. She dreaded the inevitable horrified stares, or even flat out slamming the door on the monster that she had become.

After exactly a minute of waiting, Tally strongly considered turning around to leave. Despite the fact that Tally could sense two presences in that house, she pathetically tried to reason with herself that maybe they weren’t even home.

Suddenly, she could hear the familiar pitter-patter of none other than Ellie’s footsteps approaching the doorway.

_“Here we go,”_ Tally sighed under her breath.

When she opened the door, Tally could tell that she was different. Much like when Cable’s ‘Special’ programming had been cured, there was a shift in her entire demeanor. She didn’t carry the same lesion-induced optimism, or relative cluelessness in her eyes. She looked like the same Crumbly that she had grown up with. The same woman who had held her when fixing her scrapes kissed her bruises and tucked her into bed when she was a littlie. But seeing that new sense of alertness in her made her feel…unsettled.

“Ellie,” Tally uttered softly.

The first expression on her face was alarm, confusion, and she looked…scared. Of course, the last time that she had heard her say anything about Specials, she and Sol blankly, and almost lightheartedly brushed off ever being near one. Much less seeing one.

She saw the look in her expression when she took in Tally’s height and cruel beauty. For a moment, her eyes followed the spinning of the flash tattoos that covered her entire body until she noticed the tattoos with disrupted continuity due to the row of scars down her arms.

But when she looked back up to Tally’s face, she watched the recognition sink in.

“Tally?”

Tally’s jaw clenched. Once again, she had the gut instinct to run … Just like she did with Zane.

She could hear her mother’s heart-rate grow louder, and could see the blood pumping faster in her neck. But now, the look in her eyes didn’t carry fear. It was sadness.

“Ellie, who is it?”

She heard Sol in the background approaching the door and paused when he saw Tally.

“My God.”

Just like when Ellie had opened the door, her father carried the same alarmed expression at the sight of her. It must have been even more jarring since the spinning of her flash tattoos ran significantly faster than they had just a moment ago not that they both were right in front of her.

But the recognition came quicker for him.

Tally wondered if that recognition came even faster from him due to the fact that he was more into watching the feeds than Ellie was. He had probably grown used to the sight of his daughter, the infamous Tally Youngblood on the feeds as one of the so-called _‘psychotic sixteen-year-old morphological aberrations’_ that plagued the country’s if not the world’s wall screens. He probably knew somewhat of Cable had done to her, to Shay, and to the rest of the Cutters.

But just like her mother, he didn’t seem scared of her. In fact, he also seemed sad. Just as sad as Ellie. She had seen them sad before. But now that their minds were cured and clear, it was deeper than she was prepared for. And now that she was Special, she could sense it no matter how much they tried to mask it.

“Tally,” he exhaled. 

“In the flesh,” she responded.

“Come in,” Ellie said soothingly, placing her hand on Tally’s upper arm as a mother did. But instead of leaning into her touch as she did before, she flinched for a split second. But Ellie still didn’t seem afraid or even offended. She looked…understanding. Kind of like how Shay did when she god cured, but Tally still wasn’t. And honestly, it made her feel pathetic. Like a littlie whose parents tiptoed around them in order to avoid a screaming tantrum.

When Tally entered the house, she couldn’t quite figure out how she felt. She felt a warm feeling of familiarity, yet also restricted by the four walls. She felt almost repulsed thinking about her old life when she had lived the life of a sheltered, clueless Littlie, and Ugly. But one thing for sure, it was nervous-making. If anything, it made her want to cut just to be able to stand it.

She noticed Ellie and Sol silently exchange looks to each other that said, _“What did they do to her?”_

Her fingers clenched so tightly against her palms that she was close to breaking skin with her razor-sharp fingernails. Ellie noticed her clenched hands before once again glaring at her tattoo-breaking scars. 

“I’m not staying long,” Tally stated, avoiding eye contact with them as much as possible.

When she finally had the courage to look them in the eyes again, Sol replied,

“But you can if you want to.”

The reply suddenly made her want to be sick. There was something in the overcompensation in his voice that made her want to snap. In her own body, she felt the hesitancy in every word. As if he were afraid that anything he could say could set her off enough to burn her childhood house down. But also, it reminded her of when she had begged them to let her come home when Cable threatened to keep her ugly forever. Especially how they had rejected her a little too easily while heavily encouraging her to betray her best friend.

But instead of doing something drastic, she reminded herself to stay icy; to keep her mind as clear and calm as possible. She had to remember that they were just a couple of bubbleheads back when that happened. They were programmed to be the way that they were to avoid any kind of conflict that could happen in the world.

“I think we both know that that can’t happen,” Tally snorted, knowing that they knew exactly what she meant. 

They sat down on their couch and offered Tally a seat on the big comfy chair that she had loved to sit in so much as a littlie.

She remembered sitting on Sol’s lap as they watched whatever she wanted on the wallscreen while eating snacks, feeling safe, and loved. And once again, it made her want to be sick.

_Stay icy, Tally. It’s going to be okay._

“We heard about Zane,” Ellie said softly.

Zane.

They had never met him. But they had seen her countless times on the feeds with him being an inseparable, trendsetting couple. And the couple of times that she had gone to see them, she remembered not being able to shut up about him.

Tally held back tears. Tears that she now knew now could sting her eyes, turn them red, and eventually fall down her cheeks.

No. She couldn’t let them see that.

_Stay icy, Tally._

“I just wanted to let you know that I’m going away,” she continued.

That was what made them seem curious more than anything.

“Where?” Ellie inquired, that familiar motherly tone coming back.

“Anywhere,” Tally answered.

“Or rather…everywhere.”

_“Just anywhere but here,”_ was what she left out.

“I’m going to make sure that this new movement, this…awakening won’t get out of hand. And trust me. It can, and it will.”

They nodded. Not necessarily because they agreed or believed her, but because they didn’t want her to know that they didn’t understand. But she knew that they knew that they couldn’t stop her. Just like how they couldn’t stop her from doing little tricks with Peris, even before they were old enough to be shipped off to their Ugly dorms.

“Okay,” Ellie sighed, making her way over to her. Sol followed.

Once again, she delicately placed her hand on her upper arm.

Another flash of Tally’s memories came back remembering that that was how Ellie had always touched her. And it became clear to Tally that even though she was a completely different person, she still saw her as her daughter.

“We’ll always be here, Tally. Remember that.” 

Sol followed Ellie making his way over to Tally, still more cautious than her mother was. That’s when she knew that he had definitely watched more of the feeds than she did. He was more aware of how dangerous she was.

She stood frozen before Ellie wrapped her arms around her the same way that she had always done before. And for the first time since before she turned Special, she felt small. Unconditionally loved. And even a little bit comfortable; as if she had reverted back to those times for just a second. And within that split second, she felt as though she didn’t want to leave.

But Tally couldn’t help stepping away after a few long seconds. But after being hugged, she did notice her flash tattoos had slowed down significantly. They all noticed. And their heartrates slowed just due to that.

“I—” But Tally froze, unable say anymore. She couldn’t say out loud what she knew in her heart she wanted to say.

“We know,” Sol said as she allowed him to reach up and place a hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He knew what she wanted to say. They both did.

“We love you too,” Ellie whispered finishing his thought.

Tally nodded and proceeded made her way out. With her hand on the doorknob, she took in the sight of the house that she had grown up in one last time. The place that she had felt nothing but comfort before she was built to feel that way in the wild.

Before closing the door, she looked back inter her parents’ loving eyes as her father held her mother in his arms from behind and whispered her last words to them.

“Goodbye.”


End file.
